In the news today is the latest campaign to alert young people to the long term dangers of cannabis. I can't applaud this, and similar campaigns, enough because young people often think they are indestructable and don't fully understand the potential interpersonal and mental problems that they expose themselves to. I have known several people that have used cannabis recently or in the past and I will freely admit that on the surface the 'damage' is minimal. However, what they have in common is a an inability to concentrate - a certain scattiness, if you like - that has undoubtedly limited their intellectual potential. In common too is a tendancy towards long term depression requiring medicated treatment.
There is often a sense that whatever danger exists in drug abuse, it is in some far off, distant place called the future and therefore doesn't matter. I believe that it's this same attitude that leads young people to frequently binge drink and smoke despite the clearly documented medical evidence that proves they will shorten their life expectancies. We live in an instant, temporary, throw-away culture that lives in the moment: Sod the consequecies! And when I look around, conscientiousness and responsibility often seems to be a thing of the past... the very distant and ever receding past.
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